


For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel

by chaletian



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Angst, Betrayal, Episode Tag, Episode: s01e09 Rise Up, Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-09
Updated: 2016-03-09
Packaged: 2018-05-25 17:13:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6203905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaletian/pseuds/chaletian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the aftermath of Meliorn's escape, Alec realises what's happened.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel

Sitting on the warehouse floor, Alec is aware that his time is limited – whatever Jace and Clary did to neutralise the other Shadowhunters probably won’t last long. They’ll have to go back to the Institute, account for their failure and… what? What the hell does he do about Jace? Say that his- his _parabatai_ ambushed him and escaped with Meliorn? Defied the Clave? Committed treason? How can he betray Jace like that? But then, Alec thinks, there’s been a lot of that around lately, ever since Clary appeared on the scene. (He doesn’t trust her; can’t understand why the others do; what’s _wrong_ with them?)

He just- he just wishes everything could go back to normal, to before Clary, when it was Alec and Jace and Isabelle, when the Lightwoods were safe and stable and the Institute was home and the idea of his parents being in the Circle was ludicrous. When – in retrospect – even his attraction to Jace was safe and a known quantity, not the spark and yearning he’s been feeling since meeting Magnus (which is something he needs to forget about; that’s not important; it’s not something to be indulged). Everything is off-kilter, familiar things seem to have shifted and mutated, and he’s suddenly in a world that seems alien, and all that’s left that’s real are the rules. The Clave is real.

The Clave is real. The Institute is real.

Alec gets up, brushes himself off, and goes to find the others. They return to the Institute, silent and morose in the humiliation of failure, and Alec goes straight to do what he should have done from the beginning: retrieve the Mortal Cup. He shouldn’t have listened to Jace, he should have done the right thing and given it to Lydia at the start.

But the Mortal Cup isn’t there.

Alec stares at the empty space for a moment.

It isn’t there. Of course it isn’t there. He hears steps approaching. It’s Lydia, looking angry and intent, and behind her is Isabelle, dressed as if she’s been out on a mission, and oh, Alec can see right there, in his sister’s face, that she knows the Cup isn’t there, and Alec can see, very clearly, that she and Jace planned this, planned Meliorn’s escape, planned to take the Cup, and Alec doesn’t quite know how they- except, of course he does, because Magnus helped. All three of them, Jace and Isabelle and Magnus, orchestrated this. And betrayed Alec in the process.

He can see that Lydia is saying something to him, but all he can think is that he has been betrayed: by his parents, by his sister, by _Jace_. By Magnus (and that shouldn’t matter because Magnus is little more than a stranger but it _hurts_ , like an ugly wound in his chest).

Alec Lightwood has always prided himself on being a leader, on having a plan, on knowing the right thing to do. But this- he has no plan for this. He has no fall-back position. He has nothing.

Just the rules.

He has the rules.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I had a lot of feelings after the bucketful of angst that was this week's episode!!


End file.
